Origins of Brians '80s' voice

[MBE]

Well god knows what Landy was giving Brian. I think coke hurt his neuro system though. Like I said I notice a difference in the 1983-4 Brian to the 1986 Brian. So if the stroke happened (which like I said I am not positive it did) it would be around 85. I hope repeating what I heard doesn't upset anyone. It's not like I am saying it is the stone facts.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-Dc5_1WjZc

This is posted in the "media" section, but I'm reposting it for a reason. This is from 1988, and Brian may be slurring, but he's also pretty articulate, and seems alright. In 1995, during most of the IJWMFTT doc, he's slurring more, but also can still talk pretty normal. Flash forward to 2006, and...he doesn't seem the same, despite being "better". I don't get that one at all.

[Roger Ryan]

Honestly guys, I think it depends what day of the week the cameras catch Brian in action. Look at the "SMiLE" documentary (shot over a period of maybe six months) and you'll see four different moods and levels of articulation.

[petsite]

John Lennons voice didn't change dramatically the day he started pot.

All of the Beatles had been smokers since their Hamburg days. Adding pot into the mix wouldn't have changed their voices.

[MBE]

Brian smoked cigarettes too. I have a pic of him with Roger Christian in 1964 where a pack of cigarettes is in his pocket.

[Glenn Greenberg]

Gotta love that mullet on Dr. Landy.

[endofposts]

I think a couple of reasons account for the difference between Brian then and now (speaking of the period of 1988-1995 and recent years).  One is that he's older -- if you haven't noticed!  Plus, consider the fact that Brian was more heavily medicated in the past, which made him less socially inhibited.  That was part of Landy's aim in his multi-medication regimen.  Not only to treat whatever illness Brian supposedly suffers from, but to make him more functional and friendly in public situations.  Now that he no longer takes those particular medications, including the adrenaline-blocking beta-blockers, he's more naturally shy and inhibited in situations such as on-camera interviews.  Only someone he is very personally close to and therefore comfortable with would be able to tell you if he's really declined in things such as the ability to have a conversation, as opposed to having conversations with total strangers such as Larry King in front of hot lights and cameras.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Plus, consider the fact that Brian was more heavily medicated in the past, which made him less socially inhibited.  That was part of Landy's aim in his multi-medication regimen.  Not only to treat whatever illness Brian supposedly suffers from, but to make him more functional and friendly in public situations.  Now that he no longer takes those particular medications, including the adrenaline-blocking beta-blockers, he's more naturally shy and inhibited in situations such as on-camera interviews.

Maybe they took him off the wrong medication, then, in hindsight...

[Sheriff John Stone]

I saw Brian with the group on the televised 7/5/81 concert on the Queen Mary. I also saw Brian in 1981 at Hershey PA, and in 1982 at the Allentown Fair. I know people are very critical of his vocals around this time period, but I was somewhat encouraged by them. He appeared to be "singing" better, trying to hold the notes, trying some vibratto. It wasn't those quick, gruff outbursts that were present on 15 Big Ones and Love You. Even though he was smoking again, it appeared that his voice was getting back into shape. He also appeared to be acting calmer and more "normal" on stage, not as withdrawn or stoned (even though he probably was). Then he disappeared for awhile.

I missed the coverage of The Beach Boys in the White House with the Reagan's in 1983, and I also missed the press conference after Dennis's death in 1/84.

The next time I saw Brian was on the Entertainment Tonight interview in 1984, with the " I have been up, I have down, I've been under, over... but I'm still here; I'm still rocking" statement.

I was shocked. And devastated. He was gone. Those eyes...

Brian was describing his weight loss and saying strange things like, "Now this is going to make me mad"; trying to be funny but it wasn't. Then he was making these puffed up faces describing the weight gain, and these deflating faces describing the weight loss. I don't think Brian realized how embarrassing he looked.

Brian looked great physically, unbelievably so actually, but you could instantly tell that something was seriously wrong. He was slurring, stuttering, and, for the first time, had that "deer in the headlights" look. They showed a clip of Brian at the piano singing Male Ego; but he wasn't really singing, he was shouting.

You could tell Brian was either on something, or coming off of something. But he was not all there, and as out of it as he might've been in 1976, this was a worse kind of out of it. This was the beginning of the Brian that didn't "get" the questions, that made you uncomfortable with the eyes, that didn't seem like "the old Brian". This Brian was almost cocky, obviously the work of Landy's mind games. I don't know, he just seemed like a different Brian...

[MBE]

Gosh I have never seen the whole interview. THe earlest clip I saw where he seemed not there is 1978 when he had the sore throat.I think it was a PM magazine story. He was huge and just seemed really out of commision. The first picture where I notice his eyes looking lost is the back cover of Holland. Before that I see no signs that he had "changed". I will agree in the 1981 Portrait of A Legend special, the cocaine tapes, and the Les Chan tape, Brian seems far more there then after.

[Aegir]

The cocaine tapes are sped up a little, which is why he seems more energetic and younger.

[MBE]

Well the cocaine also may account for some of that energy.

[Lorenschwartz]

...especially the prescription drugs, which I personally feel did far more damage than the illegal drugs.

I Agree!!!! damn those pharmaceutical corp's to Hell!!!

[james666]

John Lennons voice didn't change dramatically the day he started pot.

Maybe not the day after, no, but Lennon had screwed up his voice quite dreadfully by 1969.  The songs were so great that perhaps it never mattered, but he would never again be able to pull off a "Hard Day's Night" style delivery.  I think "And Your Bird Can Sing" was the last time he came close.  His 24 year old self would have cringed if he had heard the 1975 rendition of "Stand By Me".  It's not a bad performance - Lennon's vocal frailty makes the song even more moving - but the "brassy glare" (to use Ian MacDonald's phrase) that was one of the trademarks of the early Beatles has vanished.
 
 

[Reverend Joshua Sloane]

He had a case of "Yoko's Tongue" which is was a common problem a few centuries ago. Wasn't the drugs, booze, or smokes at all.

[Lorenschwartz]

He had a case of "Yoko's Tongue" which is was a common problem a few centuries ago. Wasn't the drugs, booze, or smokes at all.

Hey, i wouldn't mind having a case o that myself, man.

I like her, Nice Tits, yoko....even tho
she might've had something to do w/ the death of a great Man.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

What the hell?! Are you *trying* to get banned?

[jazzfascist]

John Lennons voice didn't change dramatically the day he started pot.

Maybe not the day after, no, but Lennon had screwed up his voice quite dreadfully by 1969.  The songs were so great that perhaps it never mattered, but he would never again be able to pull off a "Hard Day's Night" style delivery.  I think "And Your Bird Can Sing" was the last time he came close.  His 24 year old self would have cringed if he had heard the 1975 rendition of "Stand By Me".  It's not a bad performance - Lennon's vocal frailty makes the song even more moving - but the "brassy glare" (to use Ian MacDonald's phrase) that was one of the trademarks of the early Beatles has vanished.
 
 

Couldn't it just be that after Beatles stopped performing publically, he just lost the routine because he wasn't using his voice regularly and I bet he didn't do voice training. He could still deliver a good vocal when he wanted to, his vocals on "Rock'N'Roll" are great IMO. About Brian I don't think it's just his voice, he just sounds insecure, as if he's had to learn singing all over again, so his vocals sound a little odd or stilted, just like his physical appearance. I think he's just accepted that, because after all he want's to be out in the world performing

Søren

[MBE]

To me John sounded almost the same but George Martin recorded him a lot different then Spector. Some of his home demos from the 70s do show a little bit of change, I guess I never thought of his voice as really going down the tubes. I always felt it was his songwriting that began to falter. Some Time In New York City to me has great vocals but the worst set of lyrics I could ever imagine (sorry bout the pun). Anyhow smokinh isn't good for any singer but Brian and Dennis along with Bob Dylan and Keith Richards are the only people who sound radically different.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

And Marianne Faithfull, too. Especially.

[Sheriff John Stone]

And Joni Mitchell

[Glenn Greenberg]

And Lucille Ball.

[MBE]

And Marianne Faithfull, too. Especially.

Oh yeah I love her "young" voice. I find the post 79 stuff too heavy.